Driver Booster 14 Pro Review

Your Windows operating system gets regular updates. Although Windows updates are essential, your device drivers may struggle to keep up. As devices age, updates become scarce.

The main reason is that the manufacturer stops providing new drivers for older devices. Windows tries its best to keep them updated. However, these drivers are usually generic. Hence, they may not perform at their best.

To resolve outdated device driver issues, IObit Driver Booster comes to your rescue. This Driver Booster 14 Pro review will look at all the aspects that make it a great driver updater program.

Driver Booster 14 Pro Review: Introduction

Keeping your computer stable for a long time can be tricky. You can get lost with so many hidden issues related to system drivers. IObit has found a perfect solution: Driver Booster Pro. Visit the IObit Official Website.

Driver Booster 14 is an easy-to-use driver updater. It has an extensive database and can solve most of your system driver issues with just a click. It updates outdated drivers instantly and, for your peace of mind, does so with the utmost precision. Continuous driver updating and maintenance help your PC avoid crashes, network issues, audio issues, BSOD, wrong resolution, and more.

Especially if you are a gamer, you will love having Driver Booster 14 Pro on your PC. With many easy driver fixes, you can enjoy the best gaming experience ever.

Review summary

System Requirements

Your system must qualify for the minimum requirements as given below:

1. Must have Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 (x64 / x86 / Arm64).
2. Your system must have 1 GB of space on the hard drive.
3. Screen resolution of at least 1024*768 and above.

How to Download & Install

The installation process is straightforward. All instructions and manuals are available on the official website. The complete process of downloading and installing involves two steps:

1. You can download the Driver Booster Pro installer directly from the official iObit website.
2. Go to your system's download folder and double-click on the Installer.

How to activate Driver Booster 14 Pro

When you download Driver Booster, it installs as a FREE version. While writing this Driver Booster 14 Pro review, I was initially confused by this behavior. I was expecting a trial PRO application out of the box. Hence, after a bit of digging, I found that I can upgrade the FREE version directly to the PRO version. Just enter the license key and activate it. Once the activation is complete, Driver Booster restarts, and you get the Pro version.

Pricing

With an IObit Driver Booster Pro subscription, you can protect upto 3 PCs. Officially, you get 3 PCs, 1 Year license for USD 74.85. However, you can get it at more budget-friendly prices using our Driver Booster coupon codes.

A free version is also available, but with limitations. A free trial is also available, but it allows only one driver update per day.

Driver Booster 14 Pro: Key Features

Among the plethora of features, the key elements of Driver Booster Pro are:

• Offline Driver Updater lets you download and install drivers without internet access.
• Choose your preferred scan priority for drivers: the Latest First or Stability First.
• Choose your preferred driver version with multi-version scanning and updating.
• It saves more time by speeding up the driver update process.
• Huge device driver database (over 23,000,000+ drivers).
• Support for driver updates on Windows 10 and 11 ARM64 devices.
• Boosts gaming performance by prioritizing new gaming drivers and other components.
• Fixes missing game DLLs and other game components.
• Supports SOCKS5 proxy for downloading drivers
• Automatically scans your system to find and fix faulty drivers.
• For your protection, it provides a safe, secure way to update drivers. (Certified by Microsoft WHQL and IObit)
• Driver backups are available for extra safety.
• Automatically restores the driver whenever there is a problem with the update.
• Downloads drivers automatically at high speeds.
• Fixes all the common driver errors

Driver Booster Interface

Driver Booster 14 Pro has a user-friendly interface. A large Scan button is visible on the home screen. You can also check all your PC info by clicking the sidebar on the right side of the main screen.

If you don't like the dark-colored interface, you can switch to blue, black, or any other color you like. Click on the Options icon to see the different skin options.

You can navigate the app quickly thanks to its comfortable, modern features. Apart from the Scan / Update button, you can find Boost, Tools, and Action Center on the left sidebar.

Driver Booster Pro Review: Functionality

With the help of Driver Booster Pro, you can perform manual and automatic driver update scans. Let's go through the scanning ability and options in detail.

Scan Settings and Options

In Driver Booster 14, you can choose the device drivers' scan priority in the Settings tab: Latest First or Stability First. I recommend sticking with Stability.

Click SCAN to scan your system for faulty and outdated drivers. You can also click STOP to stop the scan at any time and restart it later. Hence, this is the manual part of the scan.

Want to enable an automatic driver scan? Go to Settings to enable it. Additionally, you can schedule a scan so that the drivers receive regular updates.

Scan Results and Operation

Once the scan is complete, you can see the scan results on the screen. The results show the number of outdated device drivers and game drivers, reflecting your PC's condition.

Driver Booster Pro categorizes the search results as:

Outdated drivers

Driver Booster scans all devices for new drivers and lists the findings beside the device name. The drivers show two dates: the current version date and the available version date. Hence, this display helps you determine exactly how old your current drivers are.

Faulty Drivers

If any device driver malfunctions, Driver Booster Pro will tag it as defective. It will also list the current version of the correct driver available for download.

Missing Drivers

If devices in your system have no drivers installed, Driver Booster will tag them as missing. Driver Booster Pro automatically indicates the critical drivers that are unavailable on your system.

Not-installed game drivers

This tag is for game components. They are not device drivers; they are software components. If you play games on your PC, installing these software components might improve your experience in certain games.

Choose From Available Driver Versions

For some drivers, Driver Booster 14 shows all the available versions for the device. You can choose the driver version you want to install instead of installing only the latest version.

Updating and Downloading Drivers

When the scan results show the updates you need to download for your drivers, you can choose to do any of the following:

1. Click on the 'Update Now' button given on the scan results page. Then, update all the drivers on the list.
2. Download drivers individually by clicking the 'Update' button on the right side of each drive.

After you click Update, your drivers start downloading. You can stop the download process at any time and resume it later.

Configure Driver Booster Pro Auto Update 

A great feature that helps you customize how auto-update behaves. You can activate auto-update in the Driver Booster settings under Scheduler. All you must do is check 'Automatically update drivers while the system is idle' in driver settings. You can also select the types of drivers that you want to update automatically.

Ignore Critical Drivers from Updating

Sometimes, updating some drivers causes system instability. Usually, it's not a specific fault of Driver Booster Pro but the device itself. Newer drivers may match your device, but they may not be compatible. Updating to those drivers may cause system errors. For instance, the errors can be Blue Screen of Death, No Sound, No Network, etc.

Once you know which device is causing the issue, you can ignore the update until a future update is available. Select Ignore from the drop-down on the right side of the driver. Once you select Ignore, you can choose to ignore the current update or all updates for the device.

Silent Mode

Driver Booster has a silent mode feature. Once you click Silent Mode in Settings, you will see Auto Silent Mode selected by default. It means that Driver Booster will not send you any notifications while you are in working mode.

Boost System Performance

If your system lags while playing games or multitasking, you can use Driver Booster Pro's Boost feature. This feature helps speed up your system. There are two ways this feature works:

• System Optimize
• Game Boost

Game Boost

When you're deep into a game, you can get annoyed by sudden lag caused by applications or services running in the background.

With Driver Booster 14 Pro's Game Booster feature, you can avoid such troubles and have a smooth gaming experience. It will stop all troublesome applications running in the background.

To boost, click Turn On. Before boosting, you can go to the Configure tab to choose the apps that must end while playing games. Once you have chosen the applications, click the Boost button to shut them down and enjoy gaming with no system issues.

After the boost, you can click the Details tab to look at all the stopped apps and items.

System Optimize

This module is another great tool that can help boost your system by cleaning up junk files, repeated registry entries, and privacy traces. It can also help you optimize your system and Internet speed with Advanced SystemCare, a product that has everything.

To download Advanced SystemCare, hit the 'Check Now' button. It will take you through the installation procedure. You can also click 'Details' to see the items needing optimization. If you already have Advanced SystemCare on your PC, click on the 'Run Now' button to optimize with it.

Please note that Advanced SystemCare is not a 100% free application. Please read our Advanced SystemCare Pro Review for more details. Also, you can always buy the full application with our Advanced SystemCare Pro Coupons.

Driver Booster Tools

Driver Booster Pro offers several useful tools. Use these tools to fix the following six common issues and four other useful tools.

Backup & Restore

It helps you back up and restore drivers, taking your system back to its previous healthy condition.

Driver Booster Pro allows you to backup and restore your old/existing drivers. The Backup & Restore tool has three tabs: Driver Backup, Driver Restore, and System Restore. Under "Driver Backup," you can find a list of available drivers to back up.

Driver Backup

Check the boxes next to the drivers you want to back up, then click Backup.

You can check the drivers' version on the backup list. The "current version" means the version of the device driver currently installed, while the backup version is the version of the device driver you have backed up. If you see that the Backup Version is older than the current version, you can back up the newer version to replace the old backup version.

Driver Restore

To restore drivers, go to the Driver Restore tab. Here, you can select the drivers you want to restore and click the "Restore" button. This option will reinstall the driver from your backup.

System Restore

Driver Booster 14 Pro also creates a restore point automatically before installing the drivers.

Fix Device Error

It can detect error flags from the Device Manager and try to fix them by resetting and reinstalling the device drivers.

Fix No Sound

It tries to detect the problems with your sound card. Driver Booster also uses multiple methods to resolve issues and asks for your input. If it cannot resolve the issue, it provides a guide to help you identify the problem. You can contact their support directly if your sound doesn't return.

Fix Network Failure

Driver Booster resets the network adapters and checks if the network device is working fine.

Fix Bad Resolution

A lousy display resolution is generally due to Graphics card driver issues. However, please note that Driver Booster can only fix it if problems exist with the software. Hence, keep this in mind when checking the hardware in case software remedies prove to be useless.

Clean Invalid Device Data

It helps you clean the data on unplugged devices on your computer. Please note that it cleans only device data; it does not affect driver files. 

Below are the four tools under Other Useful Tools.

Fix Missing Game DLLs 

The new Fix Missing Game DLLs feature finds and fixes missing DLL files that can cause problems when running games. It supports over 680 DLLs and 60+ game components.

Fix Incompatible Drivers

Automatically scans your system for incompatible drivers. You can turn this feature off anytime from the Settings section.

Offline Driver Updater

Offline Driver Updater lets you download and install drivers without internet access. Read further instructions here.

System Information

Check out all the information about your system.

Driver Booster 14 - Free vs. Pro

In this Driver Booster Pro review, we mention the differences between the Free and Paid versions. Pro users will get the following additional features:

• Update and install network drivers without an internet connection.
• Larger database (23,000,000+ drivers) to update outdated drivers 
• Choose the scan priority: the latest drivers first or the most stable drivers first.
• Scan and update multiple driver versions according to your preference.
• The Driver Backup feature helps back up drivers so that you can restore them when needed.
• Easily update drivers on Windows 10 and 11 ARM64 systems.
• Auto-install and update drivers during system idle time 
• Fix incompatible driver issues .
• Update the Game components for a better gaming experience.
• Fix missing game DLLs and other game components.
  
• Auto-update to the latest version of Driver Booster
• 24/7 technical support

For detailed Free vs Pro features, visit the official IObit comparison page.

Driver Booster Pro Performance

I am a regular Driver Booster user. In my Driver Booster 14 Pro review, I found it performed well. In previous versions, I often complained about slow download speeds and sometimes had trouble downloading updates. In Driver Booster 14 Pro, I had no issues downloading drivers. Thanks to the one-click scan feature, it scans and updates fast and is completely reliable. If you have trouble downloading updates, try downloading after turning off your third-party antivirus and firewall.

Driver Booster Pro Accuracy

While searching for driver updates on the System, Driver Booster Pro couldn't find updates for all drivers. However, it gives some great suggestions for optimization and resolution. No matter how many updates it can detect, it is still the best pick for driver updates.

I had an issue updating my Old Bluetooth device Driver from the 2017 manufacturer model. The device stopped working, and I had to Roll Back to the Windows default driver. Hence, I ignored it in the update. As I have mentioned before, some devices may not like the new drivers. As I have mentioned before, some devices may not like the new drivers. For your assurance, you can always download the free version and test it for yourself. If you are satisfied with the performance, you can go ahead and buy it.

Resource Consumption

The best part is that it doesn't put stress on your System's RAM or CPU. So Driver Booster feels light.

For the test, I updated a faulty fingerprint driver to measure resource usage.

CPU Usage: 14.15%

RAM Usage: 138.9 MB maximum

Driver Booster 14 Pro: Trustworthy Performance

I fixed my 2017 Lenovo laptop's no-sound issue. However, I had to ignore the Bluetooth driver. Other than that, Driver Booster was able to update all other available drivers. Hence, it works well for me. Driver Booster doesn't make false promises or show false data. It accurately detects and provides updates to your system devices.

Driver Booster Pro Review: Overall Experience

What I Liked

• What I found commendable about IObit Driver Booster is that the program still supports a wide range of Windows versions, including Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11. It also supports x64, x86, and ARM64 systems. 
• The automatic update function in IObit Driver Booster eliminates the hassle of manual driver updates. In the Settings panel under Scheduler, you can set a scan frequency for driver updates and choose whether updates download or install automatically.
• The Backup feature is a lifesaver when working with critical tools like Driver Booster, and IObit understands that. So its Backup & Restore feature helps you back up drivers and restore them to their previous state when needed.

What I Disliked

• Their support response is quite slow, which can be frustrating, especially during a time of crisis when prompt assistance is crucial.

Alternatives

Avast Driver Updater

Although Avast Driver Updater isn't as feature-rich as IObit Driver Booster, it's a strong alternative. Both utilities are reliable and efficient enough to fix driver-related issues promptly and ensure smooth, bug-free system performance. However, when it comes to the sleek user interface, Avast Driver Updater takes the edge. In contrast, the IObit Driver Booster compensates with a broader range of features and better value than Avast. Learn more in this Avast Driver Updater Review.

CCleaner Driver Updater

Unlike IObit Driver Booster and Avast Driver Updater, CCleaner does not offer a standalone Driver Updater utility. However, this efficient tool, which is part of CCleaner Pro's license, functions exceptionally well. Using this handy tool, you can quickly elevate the performance of your PC's graphics, sound, and internet connectivity while preventing issues caused by outdated drivers, such as annoying bugs, hardware problems, and unexpected crashes. To get an in-depth understanding of this tool, read this CCleaner Pro Review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I trust Driver Booster?

Yes. Driver Booster is a trustworthy program from IObit. To avoid malware issues, ensure you download it from their official website.

Is Driver Booster free and safe?

Yes. Driver Booster is safe to use. Driver Booster offers a free version. However, the PRO version has additional features not available in the free version.

Can I use Driver Booster offline?

Yes, you can use Driver Booster offline with the Offline Driver Updater feature.

Conclusion: Is Driver Booster Pro the Best?

Keeping your computer up-to-date is not an easy task. You need a helping hand in the form of Driver Booster Pro. This application takes only a few moments to scan and download the updates you need for your system. It also fixes any faulty drivers. You can backup and restore any driver, any day, in a jiffy.

Moreover, Driver Booster Pro is compatible with most of the latest versions of Windows. All it takes is 32.5 MB of space on your computer's hard drive. Gamers will rejoice in knowing how effectively it can boost gaming performance!

Is Driver Booster Worth Paying For?

Before you buy this product, you should download the free version and test it yourself. This will let you see whether it updates and detects the correct devices and driver versions.